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One of the most rigorous sports on the planet, surfing requires more than just a solid air game and cool hair. If you want to thrive as a wave rider, you need to have the physical and mental prowess for it. You also need the social skills to get sponsors who will financially support you in this otherwise expensive sport. So what does it take to become a pro surfer? Here are some tip:

Talent

Let’s face it, talent is the currency in any sport and the same thing is true with surfing. So before embarking on a long journey of training yourself with the sport, be honest with yourself and check if you have the talent.

Social skills

To be successful in surfing, you need to brush elbows with potential sponsors and fans. If you are not the type to get along with people well, then maybe this is not the sport for you. Surfing celebrities are often exposed to people and they relate to them well. This is not the life for introverts.

Competitive spirit

You must have that overwhelming desire to win at all cost. You might think surfers are chill because they look that way in photos but in reality, they have that tiger spirit within them that drives them to win.

Fitness

You might have seen old portraits of past pro surfers smoking at the beach, that is no longer true today. With all the nutritionist, physiotherapist and a host of medical doctors in the team, modern pro surfers are at the peak of their fitness. If you want to reach the level of the pros, you better drop any form of bad habits that you may have.

Guts

Surfing is a dangerous sport and if you don’t have the guts to drop steeper and deeper, or if you’re scared of sharks, then maybe this sport is not for you. Guts is needed in order for you to face your fear and perform in front of your fans. Guts is also needed to outperform the next competitor.

Take Care of Your Body with Regular Chiropractic Care

The typical complain among surfers is that they suffer pain in the soft muscle tissue. This pain inhibits their movement because it limits range of motion and to address it, they need myofascial release from a trusted Chiropractic clinic. That’s why a regular physiotherapy session is vital among pro surfers. This allows for a fast recovery making you ready for the next challenge.

Regular physiotherapy is the best way to take care of your body. It allows muscles to relax and recover from stress. A good physiotherapy clinic also guides you to avoid further injuries by improving wrong posture and your nutrition.

It is easy to say that surfing has become one of the fastest growing sports in the world. A lot of people agree that surfing is done for fun; this is not to say that surfing cannot be physically demanding. This sport requires a certain amount of skills combined with risk and physical demands, and these demands increased exponentially over the years. It is now impossible to reach a high level of performance without specific weight training that develops the body for extreme movements that are routinely performed during surfing events. Even when away from the waves, it’s important to focus on improving your body to succeed the next time you’re beach side. When I am working my trainer in New Westminster, I’m hours away from the beach but it doesn’t stop me from staying focused.

If surfers are not in a good physical condition chances are they will fail tremendously on the sport and will end up disappointed. Surfers need to be motivated and keep themselves in perfect condition not only during surfing season but all year round. Surfing skills and muscle build up doesn’t happen overnight. You need a series of strength and endurance building routine to attain a surfer’s body. This will be explained more in detail on the following paragraphs.

Importance of Weight Training

Strength

Strength is necessary for arms to paddle vigorously to catch a wave and for abdomen and legs to pull off an impressive cutback. But there is no argument that the movements in surfing rely more on the core strength of the body to be properly executed. A simple ‘sit up’ is an exercise that works out the abdomen as well as the lower back. However weight training focuses more on core strength. When you are lifting weights, muscle resist to the activity and tries to adjust building more muscle mass. This will eventually increase your core strength and ability to take on larger and powerful waves.

Endurance

Endurance is the ability to overcome stress; in this case we focus more on physical stress on the muscles. It is important to have a cardiovascular exercise at least 3 to 4 times a week. In addition to this to build endurance sit is salient to increase weight training routines. Correctly done planking is a good weight training exercise for core building endurance. Being able to lift your body face down, keeping your back straight and the rear must not stick up and let your weight be supported by the arms and toes is a good way to build physical endurance – the key is to go harder, and longer each time you train. Sooner or later you will notice how great you are in enduring physical stress and be more of a top performing surfer.

Balance

If your balance is good, you will have more exciting surfing experience. How can you have a good balance? That is where the importance of weight lifting comes in. Weight lifting develops core strength and the stronger your core is, the more maneuvers you will be able perform with ease and balance. Training such as lifting weights aids in developing Dynamic balance (the ability to maintain balanced position when mobile) Balance exercises should always be part of your over all work out to attain optimum level of surfing.

You can be a better surfer by creating a balance of strength and endurance coupled with a healthy diet and enough sleep. To really get the most out from weight training program, get one that is designed for surfers and be disciplined enough to stick to the routine.